ISLANDERS MEN AND WOMEN DOMINANT IN WINNING SPLASH

Sep 26, 2008

The Texas
A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's cross country teams
thrilled the home fans at West Guth Park Friday evening with
impressive showings to sweep the field at the New Balance Islander
Splash.

"It was an
outstanding evening for both teams," said Islander head coach Shawn
Flanagan. "It could not have gone much better than it did."

Led by
sophomore Scott Vance, who won his first race as an individual at
TAMUCC, the Islanders ran away with the men's title taking the top
four spots on the 5-mile course and placing all five runners in the
top five. Vance won with a time of 25:07 which was 13 seconds
faster than Ari Perez's mark of 25:20. Placing third was Kirk
Dalheim in 25:27 and Erik Burciaga fourth in 25:31. Edward Kemei
was the fifth Islander in the top 10 placing ninth with a time of
25:49.

"Several guys
had breakthrough races," said the coach. "Scott Vance was
tremendous, while Ari, Erik, Kirk and Edward really upped their
performances."

The men
finished with 19 points which was 31 ahead of Texas-Pan American's
50. UTSA was third with 80, Monterrey Tech fourth with 99 and
Central Arkansas was fifth (121). A&M-Kingsville was sixth with
176 points.

The women were
nearly as dominant as the men as they placed their five scoring
runners in the top 10 among all runners and in the top seven
amongst attached runners. Anne Ronoh led the Islanders with a
second-place finish in 17:24 finishing behind individual medalist
Dana Mecke of UTSA for the second week. Mecke finished in
17:09.

"The women
almost as dominant as the men," said the coach. "I am really
pleased with the times of Sarah, Courtney and Caitlin. Anne had
another solid race "

As a team, the
Islanders finished with 24 points. UTSA was a distant second with
72 followed by Texas-Pan American in third with 80, and UCA in
fourth with 102. Monterrey Tech was fifth with 106 points followed
by St. Mary's (134) and A&M-Kingsville (155).

The team heads
to
Seguin for the Texas Lutheran Invitational next Saturday.